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1 – 10 of 332Lujun Su, Yinghua Huang and Maxwell Hsu
The impact of destination reputation on tourists’ behavior has not received sufficient attention in the tourism literature. Built upon the signaling theory and the well-documented…
Abstract
Purpose
The impact of destination reputation on tourists’ behavior has not received sufficient attention in the tourism literature. Built upon the signaling theory and the well-documented stimulus-organism-response framework, the purpose of this paper is to propose and assess a theoretical model that captures relationships among destination reputation, place attachment, tourist satisfaction, and the search for alternative destinations.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the covariance-based structural equation modeling technique, this study empirically tested the conceptual model with a convenience sample of Chinese tourists who visited a popular coastal urban tourism destination in China.
Findings
Findings reveal that destination reputation positively impacts perceived place dependence, place identity, and tourist satisfaction. In addition, place dependence positively affects tourist satisfaction, but place identity has no significant impact on tourist satisfaction. As expected, tourist satisfaction negatively influences tourists’ search for alternative destinations; however, place identity positively influences tourists’ search for alternative destinations.
Originality/value
Few studies in the tourism literature explore the role of destination reputation in the tourist decision-making process. The present study’s unique contribution lies in its examination of destination reputation on tourists’ behavior. In addition, this study includes the search for alternative destinations as an important behavioral outcome into the proposed model. Some tourists explore alternative destinations even though they are willing to revisit and spread positive messages about the destination they already visited. Therefore, the continuous searching behavior is worthy of investigation in tourism studies.
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Lujun Su, Maxwell K. Hsu and Brian Huels
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature regarding negative information’s impact on consumer behavior in the context of tourism services. In addition, this paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature regarding negative information’s impact on consumer behavior in the context of tourism services. In addition, this paper empirically examines the likely difference between first-time and repeat tourists in terms of their: resistance to negative information.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 539 visitors to Mount Yuelu, a popular tourist destination in China, this study explores the differences between first-time and repeat tourists regarding how destination social responsibility (DSR) and service quality (SQ) influence tourist resistance to negative information.
Findings
The effect of SQ on resistance to negative information is stronger for repeat tourists than for first-time tourists. In addition, the study identifies that DSR and SQ have a positive impact on tourists’ resistance to negative information. Finally, findings indicate that destination identification partially mediates the relationship between DSR, SQ and tourists’ response to negative information, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
The findings provide valuable theoretical and empirical insights into the driving factors that influence consumer resistance to negative information.
Practical implications
The paper brings together DSR, SQ and tourist-destination identification to better understand the impact that visitation frequency (first-time versus repeat tourists) has on how tourists resist negative information about a tourist destination.
Social implications
Negative information that is generated about a destination may cause the number of future tourism visits to decline. Findings of this paper provide insight as to the framework that can make tourists more resistant to said negative information.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the services marketing and tourism literature by investigating the degree to which DSR and SQ affect tourist resistance to negative information as mediated by tourist-destination identification and moderated by visiting frequency.
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Lujun Su, Scott R. Swanson, Maxwell Hsu and Xiaohong Chen
This study aims to examine consumption emotions and customer–company identification as mediating variables to explore the association of perceived corporate social responsibility…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine consumption emotions and customer–company identification as mediating variables to explore the association of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on green consumer behavior in a hospitality–lodging context.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a stimulus–organism–response framework, an integrated model is developed. The hypothesized relationships of the research model are tested using the structural equation modeling technique. Data were gathered from hotel guests at a UNESCO World Heritage Site in China.
Findings
Perceived CSR directly affects positive emotions, negative emotions and customer–company identification. Positive emotions significantly influence customer–company identification. Positive emotions and customer–company identification partially mediate the relationship between perceived CSR and green consumer behavior. Hotel type was not found to be a moderating factor.
Research limitations/implications
Perceived CSR can act to influence consumers’ behaviors more broadly via an increased likelihood of engaging in green consumer behavior. Implementing CSR strategies at the company level may provide additional benefits to society as a whole. The proposed relationships need to be replicated in other service organizations, segments and cultures to better assess the generalizability of the findings.
Originality/value
This study investigates the association between consumption emotions and customer–company identification, which has been missing in the tourism/hospitality literature. This study also extends previous CSR literature by examining the potential moderating role of hospitality type.
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Kuei-Feng Chang, Maxwell Hsu and Scott Swanson
This paper aims to facilitate positioning strategy formation by decoding the relationship between consumers’ desired values, service attributes and expected consequences.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to facilitate positioning strategy formation by decoding the relationship between consumers’ desired values, service attributes and expected consequences.
Design/methodology/approach
Key informant depth interviews are followed by a questionnaire of self-cause-and-effect assessments. Total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) is used to identify hierarchical structures via pair-wise preference comparisons. The analytic network process (ANP) is used to compute relative weights to evaluate the overall image of identified alternatives. The feedback feature in the ANP is enabled to obtain objective assessments.
Findings
With the help of both TISM and ANP techniques, the hierarchical and interactive relationships among consumers’ desired values, expected consequences and service attributes are revealed in the context of international airline services.
Research limitations/implications
The approach presented can help organizations to identify which attributes influence consumer evaluations of a company/brand; obtain the hierarchical and interactive relationships among service attributes, expected consequences and desired values; assess consumer preferences toward identified service attributes; and obtain an objective assessment of the competitive landscape, which can facilitate the development of effective positioning strategies and associated tactics.
Practical implications
Organizations adopting the methods presented in this study can have a better understanding of the consumer value chain and deliver better customer experiences.
Originality/value
The current study provides an innovative application of the TISM in conjunction with a feedback-enabled ANP technique to address brand positioning challenges. Future studies may consider adopting the TISM-ANP method as a foundation whenever one attempts to explore the values-consequences-attributes hierarchy.
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Maxwell K. Hsu, Junzhou Zhang and Yamin Ahmad
This study aims to examine the relationship between tourism development and economic growth while considering exports simultaneously. Governments in many countries have been…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between tourism development and economic growth while considering exports simultaneously. Governments in many countries have been developing and deploying strategies to attract tourism receipts as a means for economic growth. However, assessing the potential impact of tourism on economic growth among large economies is still in its infancy.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a vector error correction model framework, this study examines the relationship among exports, gross domestic product (GDP) and tourism receipts (including international tourism receipts and domestic tourism receipts in two separate models) with macro data that covers two recent decades (1994-2013) in China.
Findings
The empirical findings confirm the existence of a long-term equilibrium relationship in each of these two tri-variate models. The empirical findings reveal that (1) both tourism-led-growth and export-led-growth hypotheses are supported, (2) the growth rate of tourism receipts exhibit a higher relevance with GDP growth than export growth and (3) the growth rate of international tourism shows a higher relevance with GDP growth than domestic tourism growth.
Originality/value
Using macroeconomic data collected by the Chinese government, the current study employs an advanced econometric methodology to explore the potential benefits of tourism on economic growth in China.
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Che-Hui Lien, Jyh-Jeng Wu, Maxwell K. Hsu and Stephen W. Wang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of functional value and symbolic value between positive moods and word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals in the context of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of functional value and symbolic value between positive moods and word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals in the context of Taiwan’s banking industry. In addition, this study investigates the moderating effect of relational benefits on the relationship between perceived value and WOM.
Design/methodology/approach
The research model was tested using data collected from customers (n=362) of the top 10 domestic banks in Taiwan. Structure equation modeling was employed to test and validate the conceptual model.
Findings
Positive moods are found to be an important predictor of functional value, symbolic value and WOM in this banking service study. Four types of relational benefits are identified including social, special treatment, confidence and face. Note that two distinct segments of bank customers are identified in terms of relational benefits: those who appreciate face benefits (n1=169), and those who appreciate general relational benefits (n2=193). The findings reveal the existence of partial mediation between a banking customer’s mood and WOM through functional value and symbolic value in the overall sample (n=362). However, it was found that functional value partially mediates the influence of positive moods on WOM among respondents in the “general relational benefits” segment only. That is, relational benefits are found to moderate the relationship between functional value and WOM.
Originality/value
This study expands the existing body of knowledge on customers’ perceptions of value by differentiating types of value perceptions.
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Ching-Jui Keng, Van-Dat Tran, Tze-Hsien Liao, Chao-Ju Yao and Maxwell K. Hsu
The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the sequential combination of consumer experiences on product knowledge and brand attitude. Additionally, the moderating role…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the sequential combination of consumer experiences on product knowledge and brand attitude. Additionally, the moderating role of desire for unique consumer products (DUCP) was also discussed.
Design/methodology/approach
Four types of sequential combinations of consumer experiences were designed: exposure to escapist virtual experience preceding direct experience (VEescapist→DE), exposure to education virtual experience preceding direct experience (VEeducation→DE), exposure to escapist virtual experience preceding indirect experience (VEescapist→IDE), and exposure to education virtual experience preceding indirect experience (VEeducation→IDE). A total of 302 undergraduate college students in Taiwan participated in this study.
Findings
The results revealed that DUCP moderated the sequential combination of consumer experiences on product knowledge. For the high level of DUCP, there are significant differences among the effects of the sequential combination of consumer experiences on product knowledge. Specifically, it was found that VEescapist→IDE produces the highest product knowledge while VEeducation→DE produces the lowest product knowledge. Regarding the low level of DUCP, there are not significant differences among the effects of sequential combination of consumer experiences on product knowledge.
Originality/value
This study extended the studies of Daugherty et al. (2008), Pine and Gilmore (1999), and Keng et al. (2012) to further explore the effects of the sequential combination of experiences.
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Ali F. Darrat, Maxwell K. Hsu and Maosen Zhong
This paper re‐examines recent claims in the literature that foreign trade (economic openness) plays no role in the Taiwanese economic growth once human capital is taken into…
Abstract
This paper re‐examines recent claims in the literature that foreign trade (economic openness) plays no role in the Taiwanese economic growth once human capital is taken into account. We show that such a claim lacks weight and is primarily the outcome of model misspecification. In the context of properly specified models, results from cointegration, error‐correction models, and variance decompositions all suggest that economic openness is a significant catalyst of growth in Taiwan over and above any growth contribution of human capital accumulation.
Ching‐Jui Keng, Tseng‐Lung Huang, Li‐Jie Zheng and Maxwell K. Hsu
The purpose of this study is to explore the impacts of service encounters on customer experiential value and subsequently on customer behavioral intentions in a shopping mall…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the impacts of service encounters on customer experiential value and subsequently on customer behavioral intentions in a shopping mall context in Taiwan.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered using mall intercepts at three large shopping malls in northern Taiwan. Structural equation modeling was employed to assess the proposed research model empirically.
Findings
The empirical results revealed that: personal interaction encounters positively influenced perceptions of efficiency and excellence value; physical environment encounters positively affected perceptions of playfulness and aesthetics; and all dimensions of customer experiential value (i.e. efficiency, service excellence, playfulness, and aesthetics) positively affected customer behavioral intentions.
Originality/value
Following Bitner's suggestion in 1990, the present study classified service encounters into two dimensions – personal interaction encounters and physical environment encounters. Further, the empirical findings revealed that customer experiential value mediated the relationship between service encounters and consumer behavioral intentions.
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Weiling Zhuang, Maxwell K. Hsu, Kristen L. Brewer and Qian Xiao
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the relationships between the paradoxes of social networking sites (SNSs) and users' loyalty toward these websites.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the relationships between the paradoxes of social networking sites (SNSs) and users' loyalty toward these websites.
Design/methodology/approach
This study surveyed 180 students enrolled in graduate and/or undergraduate level classes in three different universities in the Midwest and Southwest regions of the USA. The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was employed to analyze data and examine the conceptual model proposed in the current study.
Findings
The results suggest that the paradoxes of social networking sites (assimilation/isolation and competence/incompetence) are significant antecedents of online social networking pleasure and loyalty. Furthermore, the results suggest that pleasure mediates the relationships between paradoxes of social networking sites and loyalty toward social networking sites.
Research limitations/implications
A sustainable business strategy for SNSs would be to maintain a safe environment that on one hand promotes continuous innovations and on the other hand facilitates desired feelings such as fun, pleasure, and adventure. Results based on student sample suggest more works are needed to generalize the findings.
Practical implications
This study points out online communication technologies (e.g., SNSs) are a double‐edged sword for consumers. Marketers need to manage consumers' feeling and experiences effectively.
Originality/value
This study with few other studies extends social marketing literature by offering theoretical and statistical evidence regarding how paradoxes of SNSs impact users' experience. Specifically, this study addresses the underlying reasons that may cause SNS users decrease their participation over time, and the role of SNS users' feelings play in forming their overall SNS usage experiences.
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